Hong Kong expat who spent 22 days in hospital for appendicitis says doctors were slow to diagnose, treat her
- Falling ill while in hotel quarantine was bad enough; being isolated in hospital was a nightmare
- Queen Mary Hospital insists it followed pandemic protocols, including ‘slow’ Covid-19 test
An expatriate who returned to Hong Kong from overseas last month has accused a local hospital of putting her through a lengthy ordeal after she fell ill with appendicitis during her 21-day hotel quarantine.
Alex*, 30, who has worked in the city’s art scene for five years, said that Queen Mary Hospital’s emergency department gave her laxatives for constipation after she went there the first time and told her to go back to her hotel.
Her appendicitis was only diagnosed two days later, after a private doctor she called advised her to return to the hospital immediately. She underwent a four-hour operation that left a 12cm scar on her abdomen and kept her in hospital for 22 days.
She claimed her treatment and recovery were delayed because the hospital insisted on carrying out a slow coronavirus test, kept her isolated after surgery and only moved her to a normal ward when her quarantine period had ended.
The hospital insists it followed all procedures properly in treating her. Under the current protocol, patients with a quarantine order had to submit to a deep-throat saliva test if they had symptoms compatible with Covid-19, it said.
